Associate Editor Leo Wolinsky to depart The Times

Currently overseeing the Features department, Leo Wolinsky will leave The Times after more than 30 years with the company.  Editor Russ Stanton's announcement follows.

Colleagues:

For 31 years, Leo Wolinsky has served the Los Angeles Times and its readers with integrity, pride and a deep devotion to this community and to the craft of journalism. At one point or another, he has worn seemingly half the titles in the newsroom: reporter, assistant bureau chief in Sacramento, city editor, Metro editor, managing editor, executive editor, associate editor. And for the better part of a decade, Leo shaped Page One, bringing his steady news judgment and knowledge of California to bear on thousands of stories.

This spring, I asked Leo to move to the Features department to bring some much-needed stability to a crucial part of our newsroom. He accepted the assignment with his characteristic dedication, made a number of immediate improvements, and won over colleagues who were skeptical that a career hard-news guy would care about Features.

In the months since, I became convinced that the organizational structure which has prevailed in Features for several decades needed to change, so that our coverage in this multimedia world could improve and evolve. It is fair to say that Leo and I did not agree on the best way to accomplish this, leading to the difficult decision that he will be leaving The Times.

Over the years, Leo has made contributions to our readers, to this newsroom and to his colleagues that are too numerous to count. He has served ably, conscientiously and indefatigably, and for that work The Times and our readers owe Leo tremendous gratitude.

Comments

[larry]

Mr. Stanton writes:
"For 31 years, Leo Wolinsky has served the Los Angeles Times and its readers with integrity, pride and a deep devotion to this community and to the craft of journalism.

(....)
Over the years, Leo has made contributions to our readers, to this newsroom and to his colleagues that are too numerous to count. He has served ably, conscientiously and indefatigably, and for that work The Times and our readers owe Leo tremendous gratitude."

Mr. Wolinsky, with his integrity, pride, and devotion to the community, will be missed.

[barry z]

With this loss of a valuable and trusted leader, the LA Times drops another notch in the national ranks of great newspapers and news organizations. I hate to see this happen.

[Charles Klasky]

Over the past several years, I have watched the "Los Angeles" Times become the "Tribune" Times, with a heavy heart.

Lost is the invaluable perspective and insight of a local paper, which balanced local, State and national issues, as it affected the City of Los Angeles. Gone are the days when I could feel the beat of my home town.

I stopped my run of 48 consecutive years of picking up my copy of the Times each morning on my driveway or lawn. I just couldn't stand to see what the City of Chicago had done to the City of Los Angeles.

The loss of Leo Wolinsky, along with the many other, dedicated (and now former) members of the (previous) Los Angeles Times, is just one more nail in the Times' coffin. Throughout his 31 years of living the Los Angeles Times, Leo Wolinsky brought his unique spark of enthusiasm and journalistic pride to each of the many facets of the paper and our community, each and every morning.

Mr. Stanton says, he recently reassigned Leo Wolinsky from Associate Editor to run Features, so Mr. Wolinsky could bring, "his steady news judgment and knowledge of California to bear on thousands of stories." And, as Mr. Stanton reports, Leo Wolinsky's accepted his new role with, "characteristic dedication, [and] made a number of immediate improvements."

So, based on Leo's good judgment, knowledge, dedication and improvements in Features, Mr. Stanton decided to throw Leo Wolinsky out on First Street, because of...creative differences? Even a spinmeister

Mr. Stanton may be Leo Wolinsky's boss, but I'm Mr. Stanton's boss. And after spending several months attempting to find Mr. Stanton's, "steady news judgment and knowledge of California," I fired Russ Stanton.

Nice work, Mr. Stanton. The Times loses another dedicated journalist, and you lose another subscriber. Maybe there’s some connection to your eroding market share. You think?

Don't bother to respond to a putz like me. I'm just a subscriber. Oh, sorry, I was just a subscriber.

Charles Klasky
Los Angeles (Native)